Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the newest addition to Team Amo, Fay Elliot Sodaro. Fay was born on May 13 and is a congressional baby through and through.

She was welcomed by her parents, Dylan and Paige. Dylan serves as my Chief of Staff, and Paige serves as Ranking Member Bobby Scott's legislative director.

Least to say, we anticipate she will soon surpass us all in knowledge of how Congress works.

Fay is named after her great-grandmother and her great-grandfather. She is keeping her parents busy, and we can't wait for her to make an appearance on the House floor.

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate Dylan and Paige, and I welcome Fay to Team Amo.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a giant of the civil rights movement, Reverend Jesse Jackson. He is a man who understood that the success of any individual or community is

interwoven like threads in a rainbow quilt. He was a man who dedicated his life to lifting up the least among us and a man who reminded us that our Nation is only as strong as its promise to every child, every family, and every community.

From walking alongside Dr. King to his time in public service and the enduring legacy of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Reverend Jackson showed us that racial justice and economic justice are inseparable and that true equality requires both.

He believed that hope is not a sentiment but a call to action. He knew that the work of building a more just and inclusive America is never finished.

As a college student, I remember watching his `88 convention speech and being moved by seeing an image of someone who looked like me on the highest stage, saying that the feeling of this Nation could be compelled by action and driven by hope.

That message to keep hope alive is why I am standing here right now. The feeling of hope, which also happens to be the motto of the great State of Rhode Island, is something that has been the center of my service, and I am so honored to be recognizing someone who inspired it.

Now it is on us to carry forward his legacy, to ensure that the Rainbow Coalition can continue, and that we keep the promise of America for every child no matter their race, their ZIP Code, or where their family is from.

Mr. Speaker, I am so honored that I get to serve with a big part of Reverend Jackson's legacy, his son, Jonathan, my dear colleague.

Reverend Jackson, you are deeply missed. Your mission lives on, however, in each one of us, and we will carry it forward with courage, with justice, and yes, of course, hope. Rest in power.

Mr. Speaker, Rhode Islanders are struggling with Trump's affordability crisis. Yet instead of focusing on the needs of the American people, Trump started a war of choice with Iran.

Now six American servicemembers are dead, thousands of Americans are stranded, and the risk of a wider war is growing, all while spending $1 billion a day of your taxpayer dollars, Mr. Speaker.

Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and the Iranian people deserve self-determination. However, starting a war without a vote in Congress is not a strategy. It is reckless.

Trump has offered no clear objective, no day-after plan or endgame, and our Constitution is clear: Congress decides when we go to war.

I have voted yes on the War Powers Resolution to stop Trump from further destabilizing the Middle East, to prevent more casualties, and to stop this madness.

One man should not be able to drag America into another foreign war, and we must keep fighting to stop these actions that are leaving Americans and the world less safe at a major cost to all of us.

Mr. Speaker, today, as Rhode Island digs out from a historic blizzard, we rise to honor two Rhode Islanders, Rhonda and Aiden Dorgan, whose lives tragically ended in the horrific shooting at a high school hockey game last week in Pawtucket.

Three other Rhode Islanders were injured in the shooting and remain in the hospital.

Today, we hold in the light the victims, their families, the teams, school communities, and the broader Rhode Island community as they work to heal from, yet again, another act of gun violence.

I thank Mayor Donald Grebien, Governor Dan McKee, law enforcement, and local leaders for their leadership in their response to this senseless tragedy.

We are grateful to the first responders for their prompt action on the scene and medical professionals for caring for the wounded.

We are forever indebted to the ordinary Rhode Islanders who stepped up to stop the violence and care for the wounded. Some of them include Michael Black, Robert Rattenni, Ryan Cordeiro, Chris Librizzi, Glenn Narodowy, and Maryann Rattenni.

We thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

We continue to stand together to heal and work toward the safety that we all deserve, and I ask my colleagues to join me in a moment of silence.

Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of Spencer and Christine Lane of Barrington, Rhode Island, whose lives were tragically taken on January 29, 2025, in the midair collision that claimed 67 lives.

I have spoken with Doug Lane and other families who are mourning their family members who passed away in this tragic incident. They shared the pain that their families carry from this heartbreaking event.

For years, there were warnings. Since 2008, the National Transportation Safety Board has recommended requiring technology to help pilots detect nearby aircraft in real time and avoid collisions.

The ROTOR Act finally acts on that recommendation by requiring technology to help avoid collisions, aligning military and civilian safety standards, strengthening coordination and closing dangerous gaps in our aviation system. We must act now to make our skies safer.

For the Lane family, for the 67 lives lost and their families, for every passenger and crew member in our skies, I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans are trying yet again to write a blank check for ICE while American families struggle to afford the basics.

If we defeat the previous question, we can claw back the $75 billion in the ICE slush fund that Trump and Republicans established with their big, ugly law and redirect that money to where it belongs: lowering healthcare costs.

In that same bill, Republicans cut more than $1 trillion from our healthcare system, jeopardizing millions of Americans. Reclaiming this $75 billion from ICE would prevent 700,000 Americans from losing their health insurance. That is 700,000 Americans protected. That is 700,000 Americans being spared from choosing between seeing a doctor or paying rent or paying for their groceries. This is a simple question of our values.

Taxpayer dollars should be used to care for people, not to fund masked agents terrorizing our communities, spreading panic, making us less safe, and killing people.

Instead of lowering costs, Republicans poured billions into DHS, an agency spreading chaos and making choices with deadly consequences, all while ignoring the needs of working families. That tells you what their priorities are.

Mr. Speaker, everyone in this Chamber has a chance to decide today: Do we want to lower costs and protect 700,000 Americans receiving Medicaid or fund Trump's domestic mass army of terror? It is that simple.

Here is the kicker. This effort was bipartisan in the Senate when Senator Sanders introduced it. Democrats and Republicans agreed that we should cut the ICE slush fund to protect Medicaid. It should be bipartisan here, too.

I hope Republicans make the right choice, but my expectations are pretty low. I hope the American people are listening. They are most certainly watching on their screens every night.

Mr. Speaker, this vote is about using taxpayer dollars to lower costs for Americans over fueling the fear that persists in our cities. It is about caring for our neighbors when they are sick over sending masked agents to terrorize our communities. It really is that simple.

Choose care over cruelty. I urge a ``no'' vote.

Mr. Speaker, today, students returned to class at Brown University to start a new semester after the mass shooting in December that took the lives of Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and injured nine other students.

My thoughts remain with the victims, their loved ones, and our whole community during what, I am sure, has been a difficult few days.

For the Brown students who returned to campus this week, I want them to know we have their backs, and we are all thinking of them. If anyone is struggling, they should reach out for help.

As Brown, Providence, and Rhode Island continue to heal, I join countless others in making sure our community, our city, and our State have all the support we need to recover. We are on a long journey, but I know we are on it together.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2683, as amended.

I thank Representative Lawler for introducing the Remote Access Security Act, as well as Chairman Mast and Ranking Member Meeks for working together to get this through our committee.

President Joe Biden imposed unprecedented export controls on China and Russia to restrict their access to critical U.S. technologies that could enhance their military capabilities. We know these controls were working because both nations have worked vigorously to try to circumvent our restrictions.

Right now, our laws do not explicitly cover the remote access of technologies via network connections, including the internet or cloud computing services.

H.R. 2683 would close this gap by giving the Bureau of Industry and Security statutory authority to control the remote access of items by bad actors who aim to jeopardize our national security or foreign policy interests.

While this bill passed the House last year, it is even more critical today. President Biden took steps to prevent the remote access of U.S. chips by our adversaries in his Artificial Intelligence Diffusion Rule. That rule is not perfect, but President Trump rescinded it and failed to replace it with any new policy framework.

Thanks to Donald Trump repealing the rule, there are currently no clear or consistent safeguards in place to protect American chips from being accessed remotely by our adversaries, and the safeguards are even less clear once they are exported abroad.

For the sake of enriching himself and his billionaire friends, Trump went further to undermine our national security by loosening President Biden's export controls on advanced chip sales to build data centers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He is auctioning off our chips to the highest bidder without a care for the national security implications. Without strong guardrails in place, this puts American IP and technology at risk.

H.R. 2683 provides BIS with the authority to control remote access to critical American technology and demands that the administration act to protect our interests.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume for the purpose of closing.

As technology evolves, so must our technology security policies. Our export control regulations were written at a time when remote access of controlled technologies was not an acute threat.

Today, as Russian and PRC entities find more and more creative ways to evade our sanctions and export controls, we must update our regulations to keep pace with their tactics.

By passing this bill, Congress can make it harder for problematic PRC companies and military-aligned entities to obtain access to U.S. technologies and exploit them to hurt U.S. national security. By passing this bill, this body can send a clear message to Donald Trump that he must do more to protect American technology and safeguard U.S. national security.

Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me and support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of a great Rhode Islander, A.T. Wall.

A.T. was a dedicated husband, father, and criminal justice leader. After a life-changing internship with the juvenile justice system in New Haven while an undergraduate at Yale, he dedicated his career to making the Rhode Island Department of Corrections more just and restorative.

During his lengthy tenure, A.T. founded groundbreaking programs, offering medication-assisted treatment for inmates struggling with substance use disorders and training service dogs for disabled veterans. He dedicated his professional life to fostering second chances.

A man of deep faith and dedication, A.T. was always happy to lend a helping hand to anyone, including me.

My thoughts are with his wife, Maria; his children, Harrison and, my dear friend, Ash; his grandchildren; and his extended family.

He will be missed.

Mr. Speaker, today, alongside my partner in the Rhode Island House delegation, Seth Magaziner, I rise to honor two students, Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, whose lives were tragically ended in the horrific mass shooting at Brown University this weekend. Nine other students were injured in the shooting. Eight remain in the hospital.

Today, we hold in the light the victims, their families, Brown University, and the broader Rhode Island communities.

I thank Mayor Brett Smiley of Providence, Governor Dan McKee, and local leaders for their leadership in their ongoing response to this senseless tragedy.

We are grateful to the first responders for their prompt action on the scene and medical professionals for caring for the wounded.

As law enforcement continues their work, we thank them for their efforts and wish them strength in their pursuit to bring to justice whoever committed this horrific act.

For the extended Brown University, Providence and Rhode Island communities, and everyone impacted around the country, we continue to stand together and to heal and work together toward the safety we all deserve.

I ask all of my colleagues to join me in a moment of silence.

Mr. Speaker, putting food on the table is about to get exponentially harder thanks to the $187 billion Republicans cut from SNAP in their big, ugly law.

These harmful cuts impact roughly 35,000 Rhode Islanders.

We saw the devastating consequences of SNAP uncertainty when Republicans let funding for the program lapse during the government shutdown. Demand at food pantries across my district shot up.

Thankfully, Rhode Islanders do what they always do and stepped up to care for their neighbors. I have joined volunteers at the Mount Hope Community Center in Providence, the ELISHA Project in Pawtucket, the Milagros Project in Woonsocket, and St. Raymond's Church Food Pantry in Providence.

I heard directly from Rhode Islanders about the pain of rising grocery costs and their fears about losing SNAP.

Many will be working for months to recover from the hardship of just 1 month of late SNAP payments.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the contributions of Rhode Island Manufacturers Association Executive Director David Chenevert.

David is retiring after more than a decade, leaving our State's leading manufacturing organization. For more than 40 years, David has worked tirelessly to strengthen Rhode Island's manufacturing sector. He hasn't just been the president. He has been a member. David built a successful company providing precision components for multiple markets.

During his tenure at RIMA, he championed workforce development through the expansion of career and technical education for our students and helped countless small businesses transition to the future.

At the height of COVID, he helped the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation create the pledge program to deliver personal protective equipment to manufacturers so that they could remain open and operate safely.

David's hard work and strategic vision leave a legacy of growth for an essential part of Rhode Island's economy, our manufacturing strength.

Mr. Speaker, we thank David for his efforts.

Mr. Speaker, Thanksgiving is next week, and this year, families are paying more because of the President.

The staple items for this classic American holiday cost, on average, 7 percent more than last year.

Take my favorite side, stuffing. A box of stuffing mix has soared by double digits. The centerpiece of many tables, turkey, is up 7 percent.

It is not just Thanksgiving food. Grocery prices are up. Families of four are spending more than $1,000 on groceries each month.

Americans simply cannot afford to live in Trump's economy--not my constituents expecting their healthcare costs to more than double next year, and not small business owners and consumers alike hit hard by tariffs.

Americans are hurting because my colleagues across the aisle would rather give tax breaks to billionaires than lower costs for working families. Americans and their families deserve better.

Whether someone calls it stuffing or dressing, cranberry relish or sauce, I will keep working for them to lower their costs and make life affordable.

Mr. Speaker, this week we are celebrating America's direct support professionals, the dedicated workers who support Rhode Islanders with disabilities, workers like Amy from Woonsocket, who said: The best part of being a DSP is that every day is never the same. I get to celebrate the victories and milestones of the people that I support. It is so rewarding to see how proud they are of themselves.

However, workers like Amy who do such great work are at risk. Republican Medicaid costs in Trump's big, ugly law pose a threat to direct support professionals and the Rhode Islanders with disabilities they serve. Medicaid funds 77 percent of the essential services, including in-home and community-based supports, group homes, and intermediate care facilities that serve the most vulnerable Rhode Islanders.

During this Direct Support Professionals Week, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle need to step up and restore the Medicaid funding they cut that disproportionately impacts Americans with disabilities and the workers who support them.

To Amy and all those doing this hard work: Keep it up and know that I have their back in Congress.

Mr. Chairman, I thank my friend from Connecticut for yielding.

Donald Trump is breaking promises left and right to American workers. His latest target is Revolution Wind. His stop work order is abusing the definition of national security and hurting hundreds of union workers in my home State of Rhode Island ready to finish this project that is 80 percent complete.

We already have a permitting process that works. This amendment perpetuates a false narrative that leaves thousands of family- sustaining union jobs at risk.

MR. COURTNEY. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.